Texture Plates

Why make my own texture plates? Because I'm looking for a more free-form design than most of the plastic ones provide. And, why not?! This is the site that started it all:
http://tinyurl.com/2fx526 And then I discovered circle pasta at the grocery store. Nope, not make Raviolio's, or whatever that canned pasta dish is.
Example 1: Not sure where I was going with this but it was great fun. I gave it a test run on a rust dyed paper towel using a Shiva Iridescent Red paintstik. A ghost image next to each circle appeared when the paper towel shifted a little; I like it! The bottom examples were done on a paper bag from Trader Joe's. (paper bags used to protect wine bottles. As with most things from Trader Joe's these are special; they have red sides on them!) The center and the one on the right are of the texture plate above; Three different colors were used. With each color change the paper was moved around on the texture plate. The one on the left is from example #3.


Example #2. Pretty much self-explanatory. A rust dyed paper towel was again used for the test run.

Lines! Everything seems to be about lines right now; lately, I seem to be attracted to them. Paper towel on the right, rust dyed muslin on the bottom with Iridescent Blue Shiva paintstik

Flower smashing

When I spotted the bright red oleander flowers that seem to have sprouted overnight I couldn't wait to try smashing them! A lot of the flowers in my garden are too precious to try smashing or they aren't pulpy/juicy/pigmented enough. Having stepped on a few red oleander flowers in the past I knew that they'd be perfect to experiment with on paper towels. The traditional way of smashing (or pounding) flowers is done on fabric. Paper usually doesn't hold up to a hammer or mallet enough; splitting or tearing occurs. But a strong paper towel works beautifully. I liked the results of smashing the flowers enough on white paper towels to start experimenting on painted ones. Additional work will be done on the two pieces above.

Quote: Without effort there is no growth.
Effort is everything.
Sally Huss

Make an effort today to do something for yourself!

Happy May!

The background is a painted paper towel. Huge surprise! I was wandering around Home Depot yesterday after putting 16 bricks into my cart and these lovelies shouted at me, "Take us home!" What could I do? They have the oddest petals I've seen on a daisy-like plant. The purple section of my garden only has some pitiful looking Lavender plants growing in it so along with the daisies 2 Pincushion plants jumped into the cart. The Pincushion blossoms won't hold up on the scanner; the daisies barely did. A few petals twisted and a few fell off.

This is the first day I haven't felt the need to turn on the AC in 3 weeks. Nice to have the windows open and only the ceiling fans whirling around creating a breeze. I have a feeling that the furkiddies would prefer that the AC was cooling them off.

I find that when I choose a plant it's often with a few things in mind. It needs to be drought and heat tolerant and easy to grow but more importantly the plant needs to have some sort visual appeal for my artwork. If I can photograph the foliage or blossoms I'm happy, but if I can also scan or dry them I'm thrilled. To be considered for my garden the plant needs to "shout at me."

Paper towel

Another collage-in-progress using a palette of black, white, brown and beige. I got to this stage and then ran into a major block. Often it's taken years before I understand a piece enough to finish it, I hope this isn't the case.

Quote: There is a difference between invention and what comes from inside of a painter.

Edward Hopper

Paper Towels

While picking up an outdoor ceiling fan, on sale at Home Depot, I purchased a roll of embossed Scott towels. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the textured towels.

I used Viva towels for the abstracts on the right. Both were created from a single towel that was painted with turquoise and two shades red. The top one is an experiment with paint scraping; only black and white were added. On the bottom one there is a combination of paint splatters, gold dots, stamped circles and random shapes torn from painted towels.

I'm in love with the versatility of paper towels! The paper, of course, will require sealing of some kind.

Paper Towel Play

It all started with blending colors on Viva paper towels! Once the paint dried each 4x6 piece took on a life of its own. Some wanted netting adhered to them while others wanted fusible web and some begged for both. All them shouted, "Drip and pour paint on us!" And thus some abstracts were created.

I spent an hour painting paper towels last night and plan to experiment creating abstracts with them; starting with the basics of using simple shapes and a rather monochromatic palette.

Quote to memorize!
Remember to forget all those unpleasant things that are so easy to remember.
Sally Huss